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PrinterArchive

Section

Printing Glossary

Definitions of printing, scanning, and document terminology.

11 entries

An alphabetic index of printing and document terminology. Definitions are short; each links onward to the entry where the concept does the real work.

A–Z reference index

AirPrint
Apple's driver-free network printing technology for printing from Apple devices to compatible printers.
DPI (dots per inch)
The number of individual dots a device places or samples per linear inch of output or capture.
Duplex printing
Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, either automatically or manually.
OCR (optical character recognition)
The process of converting text in a scanned image into machine-readable characters.
PPM (pages per minute)
The number of pages a printer can output in one minute under stated test conditions.
Print driver
Software that translates a generic print request into the commands and format a specific printer model understands.
Print queue
The ordered list of print jobs waiting to be printed on a specific printer.
Print spooler
The system component that accepts print jobs and manages them in a queue while they wait to be printed.
Scanner bed
The flat glass surface of a flatbed scanner on which a document is placed to be captured.
Thermal printing
A printing method that marks media with controlled heat rather than liquid ink or toner.
Toner
The fine powder used by laser and LED printers to form an image, fused to paper by heat and pressure.